INDIANAPOLIS — A.J. Foyt Racing team president Larry Foyt confirmed Tuesday that neither of his 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series drivers will return to the team next season.

“Carlos Munoz and Conor Daly have not been retained for our 2018 IndyCar program,” Foyt told The Indianapolis Star via email. “We have not signed a driver for the second car yet but plan to do so within the next month.”

That confirmation means that for the third consecutive year, Foyt will roll out a pair of new drivers come the season opener at St. Petersburg.

Earlier this month, Foyt signed former IndyCar season and Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan to pilot the No. 14 ABC Supply car and told The Indianapolis Star that ideally he’d like to pair the 42-year-old veteran with a young driver who can learn from him.

“There’s some interesting options out there,” Foyt said. “We really haven’t made a decision on what direction we’re going to go. It’s not easy.”

Foyt acknowledged that there was a short list of candidates to fill the position and at the time said both Daly and Munoz were on it.

Both Daly and Munoz endured early struggles in 2017, as Foyt tried to quickly build chemistry within an overhauled program that included a late offseason switch from Honda to Chevrolet.

After the first eight races, Munoz had managed just three top-10 finishes, while Daly had none. However, it was Daly who took the biggest steps forward in the second half of the season, as he recorded top-10s at Texas and Pocono before delivering the team’s best performance of the season: a fifth-place run at Gateway.

Munoz meanwhile closed the season with three top-10s in his final four races.

However, despite their late-season momentum, the team has opted not to bring either driver back into the fold.

When asked earlier this month what areas he thought Daly needed to improve if he were to return to the team, Foyt said the young American had indeed shown great improvement late in the season, but it sounded like that improvement was too little, too late.

“I think in the middle of the season, he rededicated himself,” Foyt said. “He got really serious about this, and it showed on the race track. I switched over and started working with him and we really got along well. And we got some good results. He showed a lot of improvement and showed his ability in some races.

“Carlos did the same thing. When car the is right for him, he’s a very fast driver.”

For his part, Daly is not giving up hope on finding another ride. Early Tuesday morning he tweeted, “Been in this difficult position before (and) will get out of it once again. Giving up will never be an option. More moments like this lay ahead.”